Take-down arrangement for firearms



April 29, 1952 V. A. BROWNING TAKE-DOWN ARRANGEMENT FOR FIREARMS 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed April 10, 1948 VAL A. 5/20 WN/NG April 1952 v. A. BROWNING TAKE-DOWN ARRANGEMENT FOR FIREARMS 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed April 10, 1948 grwem bom VAL A. BROWN/N6 flaw- Patented Apr. 29, 1952 QFICE TAKE -DOWN ARRANGEMENT FOR FIREARMS Val A. Browning, Ogden, Utah Application April 10, 1948, SerialNo. 20,262

8 Claims. (ox. 42-75) This invention relates to firearms of the type 1 having a barrel and a breech block adapted to recoil upon firing of the gun, and means for restoring the barrel and breech block to firing position.

An aim of the invention is to provide certain improvements in the take-down arrangement disclosed and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 605,773 filed July 18, 1945, now Patent No. 2,465,196, and entitled Self-Loading Recoil Operated Firearm.

More particularly, an aim of. the invention is to provide an improved and simplified take-down arrangement without detaching the forearm while permitting of such a construction of foreblock I4 of suitable construction and with which may be associated a locking block (not illustrated). Secured to the forward end of the receiver, and disposed beneath the barrel, is a tube or guide l5.

In the present illustrative disclosure, the recoil spring It for returning the barrel after firing to firing position is positioned about the guide l and at opposite ends of this spring are friction pieces I! and I8 which serve the same general i purposes of the friction pieces or collars shown in arm that it will closely fit the lower half of the C barrel, thus eliminating unsightly openings or cracks through which dirt, Water, or the like might find access to the interior of the forearm. My improved arrangement further permits the forearm to be of streamline appearance while, at l the same time, covering the barrel sumciently to protect the fingers of the hand gripping the forearm from coming into contact with the hot recoiling barrel.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be in dicated in the appended claims- In the accompanying drawings- Figure l is a side elevational view of a firearm embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof; r

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. l but'with the forearm in longitudinal section;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but with additional parts shown in longitudinal section;

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view taken substantially on. line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view taken on line 6--6ofFig.4;

Fig. 7' is a perspective view of the forearm catch; and i Fig. 8 is a detailed view showing the forward end of the plate 58.

Referring to the drawings, the firearm shown therein is generally similar to that disclosed in my said copending application. It has a receiver H), a barrel l which may have a barrel extension I2 extending into the forward end of the receiver, and a, stock I3. It is also provided with a breech my said copending application. The rearmost friction collar I1 engages a block or member I9 which is here shown as being at the forward end of the receiver. This member carries the takedown latch '20 which is of the same general character as that shown in my said application. The forward friction piece or collar I=8 cooperates with a slide 2| to which the barrel isdetachably connected in the same general manner as that shown in my said application. In this instance, the slide has a ring portion 22 slidably surrounding the guide and one end of this ring portion is conical so as to accommodate the corresponding conical end of the forward friction piece I8. The slide proper has an undercut groove 25 open at its forward end so as to detachably accommodate an inverted T-shaped lug 26 depending from the under side of the barrel. The parts upon the guide are held together and the compression of the spring is adjusted by means of a screw 21' having a shank screwed into the outer end of the guide. Between the head 28 of the screw and the ring portion of the slide is a washer 29 having two ears or lugs 30 extending from its rear face and-which-lugs engage in corresponding notches 32 in the end of the guide and notches 3! in the outer end of the ring portion 22. The head of the screw is provided with a plurality of transverse openings 33 which are adapted to selectively receive a cross screw 34 which, as hereinafter explained more in detail, constitutes a pivot for the forward end of the forearm 35. It will be observed that the screw 2! holds the washer 29 against the end of the tube l5 and, due to the engagement of the lugs 30 in the notches 32 of the guide l5, the washer cannot turn. Further, as these lugs 30 also engage in notches 3| in the ring portion 22 of the slide 2|, the slide cannot turn with respect to the tube. Therefore, the forward end of the barrel is held in proper alignment withrespect to the rear end which, in turn, is held in position by the receiver. 7

In the present instance, the take-down latch 26 is in the form of an inverted U-shaped piece having legs 45 engageable in grooves 4| in the sides of the block and a cross piece 42 accommodated by a transverse groove 43 in the top of the block. Extending from the top of the latch and at each end thereof is a short lug 44. The latch 25), when in raised or operative position, cooperates with a forwardly facing shoulder 45 on the barrel in order to prevent the barrel from moving forwardly out of the receiver. This shoulder is shown, for illustrative purposes, as being at the forward end of the barrel extension.

Referring now to the forearm 35, it will be observed that it has a longitudinal recess 50 which houses the guide and the parts carried thereby. The barrel, as is usual, tapers down in diameter as it progresses from its rear end. The forearm is slotted at its top and the slot 5i is tapered, the taper corresponding to that of the barrel so that the upper edges of the forearm conform to and closely engage the barrel for a substantial portion of its under side. The arrangement is such, however, that there is normally sufficient clearance between the barrel and those portions of the upper edges of the forearm forwardly of the pivot 34 to permit the rear end of the forearm to swing down in a manner now to be described. As in the disclosure of my said copending application, the barrel is removable from the receiver by merely pulling the barrel forwardly after the take-down latch is disengaged. However, in the present instance, since the forearm conforms to the barrel in the manner just stated, in order to permit such removal of the barrel, the forearm is moved slightly with respect to the receiver and, by preference, this movement is employed to actuate the take-down latch. By preference, the forearm has a limited pivotal movement for this purpose.

In the present instance, the forearm 35, as previously indicated, is pivoted on the pin or screw 34 which extends through one of the openings 33 in the screw 21 carried by the forward end of the guide. The extreme rear end of the forearm is formed so as to straddle the forward end of the receiver. Just forwardly of the receiver, the forearm has a metal insert 52 which straddles the block l9 and latch 20 as shown most clearly in Fig. 5. The insert has, at each side, an upwardly facing shoulder 53 and these shoulders are adapted to engage the lower ends of the arms 40 of the take-down latch to hold this latch in latching position when the forearm is held up by a forearm catch 55 in normal firing position. The insert further has adjacent its upper end downwardly facing shoulders 56 which are adapted to engage the upstanding lugs 44 of the takedown latch when the rear end of the forearm swings down upon being released from the forearm catch 55 so that the forearm assists in moving the take-down latch downwardly out of barrel latching position. Between the block l9 and one of the shoulders 53 of the insert is a spring pressed plunger 5'! normally tending to urge the rear end of the forearm downwardly.

The forearm catch 55 is shown as being in the form of a slide mounted in a T groove 62 in the side of the receiver at the forward end thereof. Closing the bottom of the receiver is a plate 58 having at its forward end a slot 59, the rear portion of which is of reduced width. The rear end of the forearm catch is transversely slotted, as at 63, so that the rear portions of the catch straddle the plate to either side of the narrow slotted portion 59. The catch is normally urged forwardly to holding position by a spring 60 10- cated in a small bore 64 at the central portion of the slot, and the rear end of this spring engages the rear end of the slot 55. The under side of the catch is roughened and constitutes a finger piece by means of which the catch may be readily drawn back out of forearm holding position.

When the parts are in the normal firing position shown in Fig. 4, the lug 26 is engaged in the undercut groove 25 of the slide 2 I, and the takedown latch 25 lies in front of the shoulder on the barrel so that the barrel is properly held in place. Upon firing the gun, the operation may be generally similar to that described in my said copending application. When it is desired to take the gun down, it is merely necessary to draw the forearm catch rearwardly whereupon the rear end of the forearm will swing downwardly to the position shown in Fig. 3, such downward movement being assisted by the spring pressed plunger 51. ;When the forearm thus swings down, the downwardly facing shoulders 56 engage the lugs 44 of the take-down latch and force that latch downwardly out of latching position. Such downward movement of the forearm also removes the forearm from the line of movement of the barrel so that the barrel may now be removed by merely drawing it axially in a forward direction. When it is desired to put the gun together, it is merely necessary to align the barrel extension with the receiver and the lug 26 of the barrel with the groove 25 of the slide 2| and move the barrel rearwardly to its firing position and then manually raise the rear end of the forearm. When the forearm is thus raised, the upwardly facing shoulders 53 engage the lower ends of the legs 40 of the take-down latch and move the latter to the latching position shown in Fig. 5, and the forearm catch 55, under the influence of the spring 6|], automatically snaps forwardly. The forward end of the forearm catch is bevelled, as at 6!, so that, when the forearm is moved upwardly to normal position, the catch is cammed back out of the way.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a firearm, a section having a receiver and a forwardly extending barrel guide, a barrel mounted for reciprocation with respect to said receiver and disengageable therefrom by a longitudinal movement of the barrel forwardly from the receiver, a slide supported for limited sliding movement longitudinally of the guide, a recoil spring urging said slide forwardly, means interengaging said barrel and slide when the barrel is engaged on the receiver and disengageable when the barrel is moved longitudinally therefrom, releasable means for preventing longitudinal movement of the barrel forwardly of the receiver, a forearm, means for mounting said forearm on said section for limited movement relative thereto from a position closely adjacent the barrel to a position somewhat removed therefrom, and interengaging means between said forearm and releasable means for operating the later upon said limited movement of the forearm.

2. In a firearm, a section having a receiver and a forwardly extending barrel'guide, a barrel mounted for reciprocation with respect to said receiver and disengageable therefrom by a longitudinal movement of the barrel forwardly from the receiver, a slide supported for limited sliding movement longitudinally of the guide, a recoil spring urging said slide forwardly, means interengaging said barrel and slide when the barrel is engaged on the receiver and disengageable when the barrel is moved longitudinally therefrom, releasable latch means for preventing longitudinal movement of the barrel forwardly-of the receiver, a forearm, means mounting said forearm on said section for limited movement relative thereto from a position closely adjacent the barrel to a position somewhat removed therefrom, interengaging means between said forearm and latch means for operating the latter upon said limited movement of the forearm, and a manually operable catch for holding said forearm in its normal position.

3. In a firearm, a section having a receiver and a forwardly extending barrel guide, a barrel slidably engaged at its rear end on the receiver and disengageable therefrom by longitudinal movement forwardly from the receiver, a slide guided by said guide and located at an intermediate portion of the barrel forwardly of the receiver, means interengaging said slide and barrel when the barrel is engaged on the receiver and disengageable when the barrel is moved longitudinally therefrom, a recoil spring urging said slide forwardly, releasable latch means for normally preventing longitudinal movement of the barrel forwardly from the receiver, a forearm having a normal position closely adjacent to said barrel, means for pivotally connecting the forward end of said forearm to said section to permit the rear end of the forearm to swing into and out of normal position with respect to the barrel, said forearm having means engageable with said latch means to move the latter to take-down position when the forearm is moved away from the barrel, and means on the forearm for moving the latch means into barrel retaining position when the forearm is swung up to its normal position.

4. In a firearm, a section having a receiver and a forwardly extending barrel guide, a barrel slidably engaged at its rear end on the receiver and disengageable therefrom by longitudinal movement forwardly from the receiver, a slide guided by said guide and located at an intermediate portion of the barrel forwardly of the receiver, means interengaging said slide and barrel when the barrel is engaged on the receiver and disengageable when the barrel is moved longitudinally therefrom, a recoil spring urging said slide forwardly, releasable latch means for normally preventing longitudinal movement of the barrel, said forearm having means engageablea with said latch means to move the latter to takedown position when the forearm is moved away from the barrel, means on the forearm for moving the latch means into barrel retaining position when the forearm is swung up to its normal position, and a manually operable catch for holding said forearm in its normal position.

5. In a firearm, a section having a receiver and a forwardly extending barrel guide, a barrel slidably engaged at its rear end on the receiver and disengageable therefrom by longitudinal movement forwardly from the receiver, said barrel having a depending forwardly-facing shoulder adjacent the forward end of said receiver, a slide guided by said guide and located at an intermediate portion of the barrel forwardly of'the receiver, means interengaging said slide and barrel when the barrel is engaged on the receiver and disen'gageable when the barrel is moved forwardly therefrom, a recoil spring urging said slide forwardly, a latch member mounted for vertical movement below said barrel adjacent the rear end of said guide and constructed and arranged, when in raised position, to prevent longitudinal movement of the barrel forwardly of the receiver, and a forearm housing said guide and latch and having a normal position closely adjacent the barrel, means for pivoting said forearm adjacent its forward end to said section to permit the rear end of the forearm to be swung down out of normal position to permit the barrel to be detached in a forward direction from the receiver, said forearm having vertically-spaced downwardlyfacing and upwardly-facing shoulders respectively above and below said latch, said downwardly-facing shoulder being engageable with said latch to move the latter downwardly to takedown position when the forearm is swung away from the barrel and said upwardly-facing shoulder being engageable with the latch to move the same into barrel retaining position when the forearm is swung up to its normal position.

6. In a firearm of the type having a receiver, a forwardly extending barrel guide, a barrel slidably engaged at its rear end on the receiver and disengageable therefrom by longitudinal movement forwardly from the receiver, and a slidable support engaging the guide and the barrelat an intermediate portion of the barrel forwardly of the receiver when the barrel is engaged on the receiver and disengageable when the barrel is moved longitudinally forward therefrom, improved take-down mechanism comprising releasable latch means mounted adjacent the rear end of the guide engaging the barrel for preventing longitudinal movement thereof forwardly of the receiver, a forearm housing said latch means and the guide, and means mounting said forearm on the receiver for limited movement relative thereto between a normal position where the forearm is closely adjacent the barrel and a position where the forearm is spaced from the barrel sufficiently to permit the barrel to be detached in a forward direction from the receiver.

'7. In a firearm of the type having a receiver, a forwardly extending barrel guide, a barrel slidably engaged at its rear end on the receiver and disengageable therefrom by longitudinal movement forwardly from the receiver, and a slidable support engaging the guide and the barrel at an intermediate portion of the barrel forwardly of the receiver when the barrel is engaged on the receiver and disengageable when the barrel is moved longitudinally forward therefrom, improved take-down mechanism comprising releasable latch means mounted adjacent the rear end of the guide engaging the barrel for preventing longitudinal movement thereof forwardly of the receiver, a forearm housing said latch means and the guide, means mounting said forearm on said receiver for limited movement relative thereto between a normal position where the forearm is closely adjacent the barrel and a position where the forearm is spaced from the barrel sufficiently to permit the barrel to be detached in a forward direction from the receiver, and a manually operable catch for holding said forearm in normal position.

8. In a firearm of the type having a receiver, a barrel slidably engaged at its rear end on the receiver and disengageable therefrom by longitudinal movement forwardly from the receiver, and. a slidable support engaging the guide and the barrel at an intermediate portion of the barrel forwardly of the receiver when the barrel is engaged on the receiver and disengageable when the barrel is moved longitudinally forward therefrom, improved take-down mechanism comprising releasable latch means mounted adjacent the rear end of the guide engaging the barrel for preventing longitudinal movement thereof forwardly of the receiver, a forearm housing said latch means and the guide and normally closely adjacent the barrel, means for pivotally connecting the forward end of said forearm to the guide whereby the rear end of said forearm has a limited downward swinging movement relative to the barrel and guide, and a manually operable catch for normally holding said forearm in raised position.

VAL A. BROWNING.

No references cited. 

